Components of Marketing Information System
Marketing Information System | Principles of Marketing

A marketing information system (MkIS) is a management information system designed to support marketing decision making consisting of people, equipment and procedures to gather, decisions .sort analyze and evaluate which helps an organization to make fruitful decisions.

The structure and components of the Marketing Information System within the firm depends on how it functions within the marketing environment.The major components of MkIS are as follows:

1. Internal Records System:

The basic aim of the internal Records system is to collect “result-oriented” information about the organization. Such as sales records, purchase orders, inventory levels, cash flow accounts receivable and payable, etc. This information are crucial for future forecasting which is possible only by studying and analyzing the past and present results of the organization.

This information is regularly needed in high volume and is prepared by a group of specialists working in the organization, including various departments and sections.An internal records system enables an organization to be knowledgeable about the performance and issues they must address to improve it.

2. Information Processing System:

The basic aim of information processing system is to store efficiently and retrieve data gathered through the sub-systems of the MkIs and supply them for analysis and if not necessary, provide them to the decision-makers whenever required.

To locate the information needed, marketers use multi-subject coding and indexing structures.Without multi-subject coding and indexing structures, it becomes difficult to locate necessary information whenever required.

3. Marketing Intelligence System:

The basic aim of Marketing Intelligence System is to collect the “happening information” about the marketing environment (external). This system is used by managers of the organization to obtain everyday information about the marketing environment.

The intelligence gathering is a decentralized process and is gathered through published materials such as newspapers, books, journals, magazines, research papers, research articles, etc. Moreover, organizations also rely on salespeople, special agents, and suppliers for marketing intelligence.

4.Decision Support System/Analytical System:

The basic aim of Decision Support System/Analytical System is to help the marketing managers in analyzing data gathered or supplied through the sub-systems of the MkIs and making a rational decision. Decision support system helps marketers to make decisions on the problems by telling the truth about the situations. In other words, Decision support systems allow a firm to ask, “Why did that happen?” and “What will happen if…?’ Mathematical and/or statistical tools and decision models are used to solve several marketing problems such as media selection problems to evaluate new product acceptance to weigh sales and pricing alternatives, and so forth.